Heart Collection
by Shark on Land
Summary: Member: Number XIII. Mission: Heart Collection. 'Well, this shouldn't be so hard,' Roxas thought. "But why are people giving each other hearts Axel?" Implied AkuRoku fluff.


**A/N: **Alright, hopefully this will go along better than my last oneshot. Blegh. Still have nightmares about that one. Anywho, this is my second KH fanfic, and I'll admit that I procrastinated tons. But in the end, I'm happy with the way this turned out. Hope you enjoy and have a Happy Valentine's Day!

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts, its characters, its storyline, and its unintentional pairings do not belong to me. So yeah._

* * *

Roxas shifted nervously in his seat as other members of Organization XIII began to enter the Round Room. The reason for his anxiety was somewhat understandable. After all, it was never good when Xaldin currently considered you target practice. It all began earlier that day when Demyx had pulled an "innocent" prank on the senior member, which had involved a bucketful of water to be emptied on "Dreadsilocks". Unfortunately, Roxas had been the nearest person in the vicinity at the time.

Now all Roxas wanted to do was get his mission so he could get out of Xaldin's striking range. Finally, to his relief, Saix appeared with his customary clipboard with all the day's assignments listed on it. Looking down at Roxas with his cool gaze, Saix flicked his eyes over to the clipboard. "XIII, you're early today. And your mission today is fairly simple. You are to go to Twilight Town and collect as many hearts as you can. We shall be focusing on other worlds for the next few months, so it is crucial to harvest as many hearts as you can in this world."

Giving a nod, Roxas watched as Saix moved on to give the next member his mission. Which just so happened to be Xaldin. Summoning a portal as quickly as he could, Roxas disappeared into the darkness, leaving Demyx to handle the mess he started. _'I hope Axel won't mind me leaving without saying good-bye,' _he thought._ 'Oh well, it's only for one day. And I'll see him soon enough anyway.' _

Emerging near Station Heights, the blonde gave a brief perusal of the area. It didn't _look_ like there were a lot of Heartless today. Just the usual Shadows, and perhaps a few more challenging Emblem Heartless further into the town.

In other words, it was just another assignment. Heaving a small sigh, Roxas summoned his keyblade and proceeded into the town.

* * *

'_There's another one. And another. And another just walked by…_' Surveying the townspeople, Roxas watched in confusion as he saw yet another person pass by with what looked like a… heart. He had only been with the Organization for a short while, but he had also been under the impression that hearts were a valuable substance that should _not_ be given freely. And here were these people, doing _exactly_ that. If he didn't know better, he'd say that they were _buying_ hearts! He then watched with utter mortification as one of the townspeople opened the heart, and began to devour its contents. Strangely enough, it had a brown shade to it. Definitely not what he had imagined.

Suddenly feeling a hand clap his shoulder, Roxas looked up to see a certain flame-haired Nobody grinning down at him. "And how's the assignment going?" Axel smirked.

"Already finished it but…" Roxas paused as he looked down from his place on top of one of the buildings in Tram Common, watching yet another person walk away with a heart in hand. And this time, somebody else was walking alongside them, holding a similar heart.

Following Roxas's gaze, Axel narrowed his green eyes in confusion before they widened in understanding. Then without warning, Axel suddenly broke out into uncontrolled laughter. "Y-you think that t-they're actual hearts? I knew that you were naïve but this… this is too much!"

"What are you talking about Axel? If hearts are supposed to be hard to obtain, then why do all these people have so many? It doesn't make any sense." Instead of a coherent response, Roxas only received another howl of laughter from the Nobody. "Axel, people are starting to look up here," he sighed.

"Alright… alright," Axel sighed, beginning to calm down. "Don't you remember anything from your previous life Roxas?"

"Nope, nothing," he said, giving a shrug.

Scratching the back of his head, Axel muttered, "Where to start then? … You know, it feels more like I'm your babysitter with each day. Alright Roxas, ever heard of Valentine's Day?"

"… No… was I supposed to have been briefed on it?"

"No… It's just that… Geez…" Axel murmured. "Valentine's Day is a day where people who… have feelings for each other show it."

"Show it? How?"

"Well... they show it by... giving each other chocolates, for example."

"That still doesn't explain all the hearts though."

"I'm getting to that! Anyway, the hearts are just for some kind of stupid decoration. It's supposed to symbolize love or something like that."

"Hearts symbolize... love?"

"Yeah, something like that." Staring at the passing townspeople for a while, Roxas felt a little better knowing what was going on. "Hey Roxas," Axel said as he turned to the blonde.

"Yeah?"

"If you're done with your mission, do you want to go ahead and meet up by the clock tower?"

"Sure. Will you be there soon?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute. I shouldn't be long," he smirked.

* * *

Looking at the sunset from his perch, Roxas was once again blown over by the array of colors. Each one seemed unique to him. No two shades of a color were ever seen twice. Suddenly hearing footsteps approaching his spot, he looked over his shoulder to flash a grin at Axel. "So did you get the ice cream?"

"Ice cream? Honestly Roxas, it'd be boring to have the same thing everyday," Axel "tsk"-ed.

"Oh," he murmured, turning his gaze back to the sunset.

"Which is why I bought one of these." Pulling out a small hear-shaped box out of his coat pocket, Axel took his customary seat next to Roxas. "Thought we could split it." Opening the box, he took one of the chocolates out and popped it into his mouth. Noticing that Roxas hadn't eaten any, he gave a slight frown. "Hey, these were pretty expensive. What's the matter? You don't like chocolate?"

Meeting Axel's gaze, Roxas gave him a bright smile. "It's nothing," he said as he took one of the chocolates. "… Thank you Axel."

Gazing out into the sunset himself, Axel watched as the red and gold lights combined together. "Anytime Roxas…"

"Happy Valentine's Day."

* * *

**SoL: **Well there it is, for better or for worse. Hope that you liked it! Encouragement is always appreciated as well.


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